Field
The present disclosure relates generally to the field of semiconductor device manufacturing and, more particularly, to methods for forming metal silicides.
Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuit fabrication often includes providing electrical contact to various features of the circuit, such as providing electrical contacts to source, drain and/or gate features of a transistor. Providing reliable and low resistivity electrical contacts to such features can enhance device performance and/or increase production yield.
In forming advanced semiconductor devices, silicon can be converted to metal silicides, for example to provide low-resistivity contacts. Part of the silicon that is present in gate, source and/or drain structures of a semiconductor device can be converted into low-resistivity metal silicide. This is done to realize a conductive path with a low bulk resistivity on the one hand, and to ensure a good contact resistance on the other hand. Metal silicides can be formed on planar and/or three-dimensional structures, for example to provide the low-resistivity contacts.